Mar 17, 2011 09:38 GMT  ·  By

The first Beta development snapshot of Opera 11.10 codenamed Barracuda is now available for download. Softpedia readers have been able to read about the imminent release of Opera 11.10 Barracuda Beta yesterday, and since that announcement Opera Software released two pre-Beta Builds designed to deal with various bugs.

Early adopters can now download Build 2048 and start testing the Beta immediately.

The Norway-based browser maker emphasizes that Opera 11.10 codenamed Barracuda Beta is still pre-release software, and that users should only test it and not deploy it into production environments.

Opera 11.10 Barracuda Beta features UI improvements, better standard support, including CSS3 gradients and multiple columns, and enhancements to plug-in integration.

However, the most consistent evolution that user will notice is in terms of the Speed Dial feature.

“Opera's popular Speed Dial has been greatly enhanced; your favorite pages now have clearer previews, and dials can even dynamically show live content for websites,” Opera Software revealed.

“There is now no limit to how many dials you can use, and it is simple to adjust the Speed Dial view to best fit your setup. Click the plus button to add a new website and type the address, or choose from a list of suggestions.

“Edit the name if you want to make it all yours. Web developers can now also optimize the Speed Dial thumbnails, so you can see what is happening on your favorite sites in a glance.”

Watch the video embedded below in order to get an idea of what exactly Opera 11.10 will bring to the table when it comes down to Speed Dial enhancements.

And by all means, testers used to living a tad on the edge, should download Opera 11.10 Barracuda Beta and take it out for a spin.

Opera 11.10 codenamed Barracuda Beta for Windows is available for download here.